D. L. Hughley, comic and former host of Black Entertainment Network[/caption]Laws against discrimination have allowed many people opportunities they might not have had, but in some ways they have not brought folks closer together. In fact those separate but equal groups and factions remain part of the American fabric. Lawsuits also reflect the controversy as well as the concerns over discrimination, and how in the reverse it can be just as much a problem.
A straight person is now suing a gay supervisor for discrimination. The plaintiff in New York maintains his supervisor treats him differently because he is a man with children. He claims the supervisor in question, an athletic director, offers preferential treatment to single, female teachers.
While the issues involved in the gay vs straight community continue to abound, focusing upon the most high profile of those issues, gay marriage, in ethnic communities it becomes even more obvious that there is a trend for people to make racial and ethnic definitions that become barriers for members of one group to join another.
For example, in the media, Dr. Henry Gates, of the fairly recent fame of having tried to break into his own house, which alerted police and caused him to be questioned by a police man, while he claimed harassment based on color, owns an online news outlet called The Root. On one occasion a writer of the publication rewrote an article by a white journalist that had been on another publication about integration and whether it had been a good or bad idea. Based upon the evidence that the material was thought positive enough to be cited so diligently, the publication was contacted for conversation about inclusion of another article, or incidental writing by the white journalist. There was, however, no answer from anyone.
The selectivity of staff, however, may or may not be part of the Gates view that black writing should be reviewed through the prism of its own culture.
There are black news programs, beauty contests, sororities and fraternities, social groups, meet-ups, dating services and television outlets, many of whom offer no other colors than shades of brown. Yet there would be significant protest if another race did likewise. It has been explained variously as related to lack of opportunity for African Americans in these various areas, or discrimination; however it remains a prominent feature of American life that drives home the point that integration among adult groups has not arrived. Furthermore, much the same is true in the Hispanic communities where Hispanic channels, stores and organizations tend to reflect an ethnic group in some ways excluding others, often in fact or by nuance. In fact, one could say, in some ways there has been a rollback of interaction among the various ethnic groups in America.
Are we a nation of equality and harmony? The facts reveal we have a hard road to travel on the matter of race, with much of it interrupted by those who ask questions with the accusation of racism for asking the question. To solve a problem means knowing a problem exists, so to resolve the matter of equality and inclusion means looking at how we treat others, in either black or white or all color shades, if we are to live up to America's dreams.
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